HIPPER

Country
German

Class
Cruiser

MMweight
7.5

Obtain Method
Tech Tree

Arena rating

C

PVP rating

D

Admiral Hipper was the lead ship of the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers. Admiral Hipper saw a significant amount of action during the war. Hipper has 4×2 203 mm guns with good accuracy, long range, and fast shell velocity. This makes Hipper capable of fighting even at very long range. The shells have sufficient penetration to deal decent damage, but the reload is slow. Hipper has flat shell arc so it’s hard to lob shell over islands. Hipper’s HE performance is slightly below average compared to other heavy cruisers, but still better than light cruisers when fighting MMweight 8 battleships. Hipper’s AP performance is very good and the shells retain its performance over long distance.

The main problem with Hipper is bad armor. Many battleships can citadel Hipper from any angle. Hipper also has slow speed, bad maneuverability, and bad concealment. This makes Hipper easy to hit and very inflexible to use. The player must be very careful when sailing, because getting spotted while still repositioning is very dangerous.

Hipper has plenty of torpedoes, but due to short range, bad armor, and slow speed there’s no way to use them. It will be sunk before it gets inside the torpedo range. The underwater search is a useful consumable to detect ships inside smokescreen and torpedoes from long range. Equip it if you’re not expecting to fight a CV.

Playstyle

At the start of the battle, sail to a flank. Don’t sail too forward. Don’t get yourself spotted first. Remember, shooting will increase your detectability range so don’t do that unless you absolutely need to. If the enemy is spotted, let your battleships shoot the enemy first. Just like all cruisers, you need to find a good island to hide while still being able to lob shells. Ideally, you want to be able to lob shells to the enemy but the enemy can’t see or shoot you back. If you’re getting shot, just move closer to the island to hide or run away.

If there’s no such island, fight in open water at more than 14 km from enemy battleship. Use HE as your default ammunition unless the enemy is a broadsiding cruiser. Angle your ship away from the enemy (kiting position). Speed juke to dodge shells. You can try this simple speed juke tactic: sail at 1/4 speed when the enemy isn’t shooting, accelerate to full speed when the enemy shoots at you, reverse if the enemy shoots in front of your ship. Turn your ship away to increase its effectiveness. If the enemy is chasing you, drop your torpedoes too. Don’t show broadside and don’t bowtank the enemy. If your HP is low, just run away and stop shooting. Once you get out of your basic detection range, you won’t be spotted anymore.

To maximize your effectiveness, try to create a crossfire with your teammates. If your teammate is tanking, you sail to the side of the enemy ship and shoot at their broadside. Your primary targets are cruisers and broadsiding battleships. Hipper’s AP is very strong.

In a CV battle, always stay close to allied ships (especially BBs and CV) so you can protect each other with overlapping AA. You have long range, so you don’t need to get close to the enemy anyway.

Is it worth to buy?

Hipper is a cruiser that specializes in long range combat. Since it has bad armor and mobility, Hipper’s playstyle is very passive. In arena, it can perform better because everyone is sniping. Unfortunately, slow reload makes its damage output low.

Hipper is a tech tree ship. If you want to get it, you just have to grind it. Hipper is not recommended for new players.

Strengths
Long range, good accuracy, fast shell velocity, good penetration, has torpedoes
Weaknesses
Bad armor, slow reload, slow speed, bad maneuverability, bad AA, bad concealment, no planes.
Consumables
Elite DC, elite  repair (3 charges), anti-air barrage (3 charges) / underwater search (4 charges)
General playstyle
Kiting, sniping, flanking
Role/specialty
Damage dealer
Preferred enemy target
Cruiser, BB

Recommended Build

Equipment
Slot 1: adv. disaster retardant module
Slot 2: engine enhancement module
Slot 3: aiming system module
Consumables
Slot 1: elite damage control
Slot 2: elite repair
Slot 3: elite underwater search
Crew Skills (after basic skill)
Captain: artillery warning – boost morale- hull protection
Gun: crack gunner – high speed aiming – burn the ship behind
Engine: quick shift – adv. quick shift – steering master
Damage control: buoyancy reserve – emergency flooding – extinguish
Torpedo: engine maintenance – excess charge – weak point attack

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